Notice - Starlink has paused service transfer requests while they work to implement a new self-service transfer feature on the website. When the new self-service system goes live, I will update this post to reflect the new process. In the meantime, no transfers will be processed by Starlink.
Starlink has been delivering satellite internet around the world since late 2020. As time has gone on, some customers have had to get rid of Starlink for one reason or another. Websites like eBay and Facebook Marketplace are filling up with used Starlink dishes. If you are interested in buying or selling a used Starlink dish, this guide was created to help you out.
We’ll give you all the information you need in order to safely buy, sell, and transfer Starlink on the used market. To start out, let’s quickly answer the most common questions.
Can you sell your Starlink equipment?
Yes, you can sell your used Residential Starlink equipment to anyone who has availability at their service address. When you purchase Starlink, you own the hardware. According to Starlink, you have the right to do what you wish with your equipment:
2.5 Title to Starlink Kit. Starlink will transfer title to the Starlink Kit and any accessories to you at the time of delivery.
7.5 Transferring Services. You may have the option to transfer your Services to another responsible party if (a) the account is paid-in-full and in good standing; and (b) the Service address is the same or the requested Service address has network availability. Service transfers are subject to Starlink approval. Please visit https://support.starlink.com/ to learn more about transferring your Services.
Starlink Pre-Order Agreement
Starlink RV cannot be sold/transferred at this time.
Can you buy a used Starlink dish?
Yes, you can buy a used Starlink dish, but only if your location has availability and the sellers Starlink account can be transferred to you. In order to use a Starlink dish that you bought used, you’ll need the seller to transfer their account. We’ll get into the details of that process next.
How to sell your used Starlink
In this section, we will guide you through the process of selling your Starlink dish. If you are a buyer, you can skip this section and jump to the buying section.
Step 1: Make sure your account is in good standing
In order to start the transfer of your dish to someone else, your Starlink account needs to be in good standing. It’s fine if you cancelled your service already, but make sure you are paid up, with no outstanding balance on your account.
Step 2: Gather the required info from the buyer
After you’ve found a buyer for your Starlink, you will need a couple things to start the transfer:
- Buyer service address – you will need the address where they plan to use Starlink
- Buyer email address – this email will be used to set up their new Starlink account
If the buyer has an existing Starlink account, such as a pre-order for the waitlist, they will need to cancel or give an alternate email address for the transfer.
Step 3: Submit a ticket to Starlink
Create a Starlink support ticket via the app or support section of the website. Tell Starlink you are needing to transfer your service to someone else, and provide them with the buyer’s address and email.
Starlink will confirm availability at the buyers address. This process will only work if the buyers address is available for full orders from Starlink. If the buyers location is on a waitlist, they won’t be able to transfer your account.
Step 4: Service transfer form
If Step 3 was successful, and the buyer is eligible for service, Starlink will email them a form that they need to fill out. The buyer will need your current Starlink account number, so provide that to them at this time.
In this step, the buyer will be providing all the details to Starlink to set up their new account. Details include payment information (for the monthly service bill, not the eq Once this form has been submitted and approved, your service will be canceled at the end of the current billing period.
Step 5: Complete the sale
The buyer should get a confirmation message after submitting the transfer form. This can take a few days. It’s safe to meet up and make the exchange of money and Starlink equipment after the buyer has received the confirmation.
How to buy a used Starlink
In this section we are going to walk through the process of buying a used Starlink dish.
Step 1: Verify availability at your address
In order to buy a used Starlink and get service, your address needs to be eligible. To check availability, go to the Starlink website and type in your address in the search box. If you are able to place a full order for the hardware kit, you can proceed!
If Starlink says service is not available at your location yet, or you can only pre-order for $99, then you will not be able to buy a used Starlink dish to use at your address.
For more detail, check out our guide to checking for Starlink availability.
Step 2: Send your information to the seller
Once you’ve found a used Starlink to buy, you’ll need to get in contact with the seller to provide the following information:
- Your service address – where you plan to use Starlink
- Your email address – the email that will be associated with your Starlink account.
The email you provide cannot already be in use for a Starlink pre-order account. If you are already on the waitlist, you need to cancel or provide another email.
Step 3: Have the seller submit a ticket
The seller will need to take the information you provided and open up a Starlink support ticket, requesting a service transfer. Starlink will make sure your address is available for service.
Step 4: Fill out the service transfer form
If Step 3 was successful, you’ll get an email from Starlink with a form that needs to be filled out. You’ll need the sellers Starlink account number.
This form will allow Starlink to set up your account so you can activate service and start paying the monthly fee. Once you submit the form back to Starlink, wait for a confirmation email.
Step 5: Complete the sale
Once you receive the confirmation of the service transfer, it’s safe to exchange money for the used Starlink gear!
Buying and selling tips
- Payment should only be made after confirmation from Starlink that the service can be transferred. You wouldn’t want to buy or sell a dish, only to find out later that you cannot transfer service
- When buying from eBay, take advantage of their buyer protection. You’ll need to pay in advance when using eBay, so communicate your expectations with the seller regarding the transfer before buying
- When buying a used dish, verify the condition with the seller. You will need to make sure it can turn on, connect to satellites, and connect to the internet. It’s always best to be able to check it out in person
- When buying, ask the seller if their Starlink account is active or cancelled. If they have cancelled, make sure to ask them if their account is paid in full, with no outstanding issues
- When selling, ask for the buyers service address right off the bat. Use the Starlink website to check availability for the address. If you aren’t able to place a full order, it’s not worth proceeding with that buyer
Can I cancel/reverse a transfer?
If your deal falls through, you can cancel/reverse the transfer. Simply contact Starlink support and let them know the sale will not be proceeding, and you need to reverse the transfer process.
Can Starlink RV be transferred?
No, Starlink RV cannot be transferred to another owner at this time. It is unknown if Starlink will allow RV units to be converted to Residential, or transferred to another owner, in the future.
How much is a used Starlink worth?
It depends. The used Starlink market has been on a wild ride since the release of the Portability/roaming mode. A new Starlink kit costs $599, so naturally a used Starlink is not as valuable. If a buyers address is open for orders (and therefore could complete a service transfer), it doesn’t make a lot of sense to list a used dish for more than MSRP.
That being said, we’ve seen Starlink dishes sell for over $1500 on eBay. But since the launch of Starlink RV, prices have started to come down.
In our opinion, $400-$500 is a fair price for a used Starlink kit. If you are a buyer, don’t pay more, just buy from Starlink instead. If you are a seller, only ineligible buyers are going to be interested in a dish priced above MSRP.
We bought a house with Starlink and I purchased equipment from seller. I received transfer email on January 3rd and filled out form. Today my internet went out so I called seller and now his account is inactive and I have no service. I never received another email from Starlink since January 3rd….what do I do?
We have an RV hardware package but are done traveling (located in BC, Canada). We will not need this equipment in the future. Do we have any options for selling or getting anything out of our equipment? Or is it just an expensive paperweight now if the RV system cannot be transferred?
Right now there are no options to transfer RV service. Starlink has temporarily stopped doing service transfers until their new self-service transfer system is in place at the end of the month. You’ll have to check back then to see if they start allowing RV to be sold/transferred. Make sure you subscribe to our email newsletter. I’ll send out an updated transfer guide when the new system is live.
As you indicate the RV “option”(?) is not a robust as the residential option. Is it possible to switch options from residential to RV for the RV season and then back again when I return to my residence?
I don’t know what you mean by robust, it’s the same hardware. You can switch from Residential to RV, but not back to Residential. If you just need to travel with Starlink for a few trips a year, consider keeping Residential and just adding on the Portability feature.
I bought a system from landlord, was working great until transfer request. I have submitted this twice now with no response from star link. When i look up the address it says it is on a wait list but we already had the service there it just needed to be in my name. Well since the transfer request I have no service. Do we know how long this takes to transfer so I can pay and get services in order to have any working services in my home as I live in a rural area.
So the landlord gave you the account login info for you to contact Starlink? If you submitted the request, you should have received an email from Starlink on your own email to set up a new account.
If I buy a used system from private party and use their dish only to replace my damaged dish will my account remain intact? Or must I use the Sellers equipment and reactivate their account?
The dish is tied to the account, so you would probably need to transfer their account to your name to use the dish. You might try contacting Starlink directly to see if they could swap out equipment on your existing account, though. Worth a shot!
Its been 3 weeks since I bought my dish off ebay
The seller put in a transfer request twice and I’ve still yet to hear word on the transfer
The seller has stopped contact with me and
What do I do now?
It sounds like your address isn’t available for transfer, and the seller doesn’t want the dish back. Go through eBay and start the return/refund process, citing the unsuccessful transfer and seller communication as the issue.
We bought a house and the seller left the unit there for us! our seller set up the information and contacted starlink to transfer the unit to us. Unfortunately it took weeks for the seller to get us his account number and the service was cancelled (the old homeowner gave us his user name and PW!) after finally receiving the account number, AND FILLING OUT THE TRANSFER FORM, I have heard NOTHING in return from starlink! NOTHING! I was very happy with the service that we had for the short time! I am very unhappy with the customer service or lack there of.
I would use the account the seller gave you credentials for, and submit another support ticket, asking to reactivate the service or transfer the service. Basically, start the process over again.
My router is not working. Can I buy a mesh router someone is not using and attach it to my dish?
Yes the mesh router will work just fine as a replacement. Just be sure to do a factory reset on the router by unplugging and plugging in the power 3x in a row.
Hi there! I’m confused by one part of this process. I am currently on the waitlist for service in an area where many of my neighbors have service. Can an account be transferred to me if I am on the waitlist? If not, why would it matter whether the email I provide was already in use for a Starlink pre-order account? Also, I could buy an RV account for my address on the Starlink site today. Is there any downside to buying an RV account instead of waiting for a regular account? Thanks!
Technically, no, you can’t have service transferred to an address that is waitlisted. But I’ve heard many reports of Starlink failing to check, and approving the transfer anyway. Worth a shot, in my opinion. For the email issue, Starlink will create a brand new account during the transfer process. So you can’t use the same email that you pre-ordered with. RV has several downsides, but is a viable option if the used dish doesn’t work:
https://www.starlinkhardware.com/starlink-rv-vs-starlink-residential/
I’m going to give it a shot. 🙂
Thank you for being so helpful!
Well, Starlink denied the transfer since I am on the waitlist. Do you know if it’s possible to activate the used equipment I bought as an RV account but remain on the waitlist with a different email address for a residential account? Thanks!
I have bought a used starlink kit and it has arrived and is working
The seller sent my information to star link for transfer
But it has been 8 days with no word from star link on my end
The seller should have sent Starlink your email, and Starlink should reach out to you to confirm the sellers account #. I would give it a few more days, and then have the seller contact Starlink again. Make sure to check your junk email folders, and make sure the seller has your correct email.
I had the seller send another request in a few days ago
I have checking all my junk and spam folders
From what I’ve heard from others they never get the email
Is there a chance that they won’t even be able to transfer the service over
I’ve read quite a few forums of people buying them on ebay and they just wind up being paper weights
I know service is available in my location cause my neighbors use star link for their internet
But I have yet to get any type of response from starlink on the transfer
Just had a successful transfer of a Gen 1 kit purchased on Ebay. Took a day or two for Starlink to respond and another day for it to be finalized. Initial transfer questions from Starlink included one on RV service which was selected but ignored. Once finalized bill came in at $110 and account had to be changed to RV.
Well I have been waiting 10 days as of now
Thats when they sent the first transfer request, and another one 3 days ago
Can I buy a used dish, yes it’s available for my location, sign up as a residential customer, then convert to the RV/portable account so I can take it on the road? I’m looking for a used dish for my RV.
Yes, you can convert from Residential to RV after the account migration is complete. It cannot be converted back to Residential, though.
I have a Gen1 round dish kit that I’ve used for a year. Portability has now been introduced. If I added portability to my existing account and was able to get a second gen1 dish could I mount the second dish at my cabin (which is now in an area that has service) and simply move my original power supply and modem back and forth to whichever location I’d be at?
This way I’d have one account with the portability option and be able to take it with me and use it at the location I’d be at.
Does anyone know if this would work, will my gen1 modem work on another gen1 dish?
Router should work fine on both dish’s, but I’m a little confused on why you would want two of them if you have Portability enabled. The whole point is to be able to take the dish with you to a secondary location. If you had two dish’s, you wouldn’t need Portability, since you would have one at each location already. The Portability applies to the dish, not the router.
Hi Noah, thanks for your response. Allow me to further explain. I have a cabin in a very remote part of Alaska, l just was notified that my Starlink order for there could now be fulfilled. This got me thinking with the recent addition of portability could I more fully utilize my existing system that I already have.
Transporting the gen1 dish itself back and forth between Alaska and Wisconsin each time would be a logistical problem.
If I could pick up another used gen1 and just use the dish itself, bring that out once and leave it permanently mounted at the cabin and still have my original dish at my home would it work? That way it would be much easier to carry just my original power supply and modem back and forth and just be able to plug in when I got there.
I tried Starlink support but I’m not confident they fully understood what I wanted to do. They advised that it first must be a gen1 to be compatible. That I understand, but then they said it would need to be registered and have it’s own account. But that’s why I’m intrigued by portability, I don’t really want or need two systems, not if I can use the one I have and take it with each time I go.
I just wanted to alleviate having to haul the actual dish back and forth each time on a floatplane. Thanks for any advice you can provide. L
From what you described, I think you need to purchase Starlink RV for the used gen1 dish you purchase. That way you could pause the subscription when you aren’t using it. You can’t have two dishes on one account. In order to not be transporting a single dish back and forth, you would need two separate lines of service. Portability just gives you the option of using the dish in a secondary location. Not useful unless you plan to actually move the dish back and forth. You can either buy Starlink RV new, or buy a used dish and convert the account to RV later.
Pretty clear you can’t sell and transfer from a RV account but how about buying from a standard account in to be used as an RV account?
Yep you can convert Residential to RV, so you would follow this process, and then convert your account to RV afterwards.
I have a business starlink I am willing to sell. Used it for four months no issues.
Hallo ik ga verhuizen naar Spanje en wil mijn Starlink schotel daar ook gebruiken wat moet ik doen ? ik verkoop hem niet dus wat is de overdracht naar Spanje ?
You can update your service location by visiting the Starlink website and logging in to your account dashboard.
Google translate:
U kunt uw servicelocatie bijwerken door naar de Starlink-website te gaan en in te loggen op uw accountdashboard.
We sell A LOT of connectivity devises in the RV market to OEMs and through distribution. Who can we contact to become a Starlink reseller in the RV market.
From what I understand, Starlink wants to avoid resellers. Your best bet to contact them would be to buy one and use the account to create a support ticket asking to get in touch with someone who can help you.
Do Starlink Business dishes also transfer/sell on the secondary markiet? Can I also ask: Can I just put a residential dish on top of my small business building, for roughly 1/5th the price? Thank you!
Yes, Business hardware can be transferred as well. It’s more rare to find them on the used market, though. Yes, you could use the Residential service for a business, but technically that would be breaking Starlink’s terms of service.
Wanted to add a slight twist to the transfer process that I’m in the process of attempting to resolve. I purchased a dish on ebay. I followed the steps laid out above, filled out the account transfers form, received confirmation from Starlink that an account had been opened, logged in and set up the password, etc. With that done, I made payment to seller, and have now received the dish. When to hook everything up, and everything works, with the exception that it doesn’t come online and has a GPS not in service location error. Checking the FAQs, I’m directed to “Manage Locations” to ascertain what the location address is. This is when I realize that I have no locations in the account settings. While Starlink authorized the opening of a new account for the service address I provided and started billing me 110/mo, I guess they forgot about transferring the actual dish to my account. Service request pending…
On your account on the website, does it show a map? Should be able to update the service address yourself from the account dashboard.
Apparently, you cannot activate the dish outside of the service location. Not being able to activate it, meant it didn’t show up on the location/manage screen in the dashboard, which meant you couldn’t add portability. After going back and forth with account support, they finally added the dish to the location page, which allowed me to add portability. Then, unplugging the router and rebooting everything got me online.
Excellent, thanks for the follow up. Glad they got it working for you.
I was awarded my starlink in a divorce but have no login or password information do to it being in her name. All I have is the account info. She cancelled service and I have a different internet provider. I have people interested in getting starlink and buying my equipment. How can I transfer the account
You can visit the website http://www.Starlink.com and hit Log In from the menu. From there, click on Forgot Password. You’ll have the option to recover the account via alternate email if you have the account# and related info. Once you have a new email set up, you can start the transfer process by following the steps in this guide.
Frustrating that the RV unit can’t simply be converted to a Residential service as I bought RV a few months ago expecting a longer wait for Residential. Residential was available now but I had to purchase a second kit at $599 to set up the non-throttled service at home. Now I have a spare kit that I *might* use remotely a few times a year but would rather not need to purchase a second kit.
I’m in the exact same position. I got the RV unit in August, as they said the Residential service would not be available in my location until 2023 (which I interpreted as maybe 2023 / maybe 2024 – you know how Elon is with hyping aggressive timeline targets….. 🙂 Anyway, just got the mail that my residential service is available. I then logged a support ticket and asked to convert my RV to Residential – becuase I didn’t do my research. Starlink support has not responded to my ticket, but re-sent the mail that my Residential service is available and extended the timeline for me to accept.
Oh, and my bandwidth on my RV service just dropped dramatically. Coincidence?
I’m now buying the Residential kit…….
Fiber internet was recently installed in our house, so I need to close down my Starlink Rectangular dish/router with a Residential account. If I choose to deactivate my account without transferring my service, could I sell my used dish/router ‘as is’ later on? Could a buyer get a new Starlink Residential account that would work with my used hardware (without buying a new dish/router)?
Nice website, great information!
Yes, you are able to transfer a deactivated account later on if you wish.
Have you ever heard of a dish not being updatable? I was told by a seller that starlink told him, his sis is too old to update? He wants to sell it to us, and from the little I’ve found on the matter, it is very much updatable, it just takes time? Could you verify thh HH is please.
I’ve heard conflicting reports on fixing the issue. A Starlink dish can fall too far behind on firmware, essentially bricking it. But I’ve heard that:
so apparently as of 0810 2022 Starlink is no longer doing transfers of service on circular dish- Bloody hell as i had this sold and 4 people wanted it .. i even contacted starlink last week to advise the date of transfer to happen in which they told me we could not transfer service in advance and to wait until aug 10th when i could disconnect and do transfer to recontact them and now they are saying NO and refusing to do it.
Thanks for the information. This is the first I’ve heard of not being able to transfer the round dish. Would you be able to send me a screenshot of the support chat/email indicating they are not able to transfer the round dish? If it’s available please send a copy to [email protected]
Hi. Did you receive confirmation that this is true?
It doesn’t appear to be a new policy. There seems to be a few misinformed customer service agents at Starlink. I had originally added a disclaimer to this article but I have since removed it because it doesn’t appear that they are stopping all transfers of the round dishes.
Several people in the US have told me they were able to transfer the round dish in the last week or so.
My partner just bought a new starlink kit from someone who received 2 kits by accident.
Starlink is available at our address but the wait time to receive a kit is over a year so this seemed like a simple solution.
Is it possible to create a new account without going through the entire ordering process?
Obviously the seller is going to keep their account and I can’t find any information on what to do in a situation like this.
The seller will have to reach out to Starlink to transfer the dish. The seller will send Starlink your address and email, and Starlink will create a new account for you. It all has to be done through the seller because they have access to the Starlink ticket system.
I am moving into a new house that has established Starlink service. How do I get it transferred out of the seller’s name amd into mine?
You can send this article to the seller. They will need to follow steps above. Basically, they need to submit a support ticket to Starlink telling them they want to transfer service to your address and email.
I bought a starlink kit that has never been used. The seller states that no service or account as been established. How do I proceed to establish an account?
They had to have created an account to order it. They will need to use their account to contact Starlink in order to transfer the account to your email.